October 19, 2010

Hearty Beef and Potato Stew

I’ve posted a lot of sweet stuff lately, so I decided it was time to switch things up and post something healthier. Since the weather finally started turning cooler this month, I’ve been on the look out for some new soups or stews that I love as much as my chicken tortilla and chicken pot pie soups. Unfortunately, there are a lot of soups out there that are bland and boring, but after trying out two disappointing soups I was happy to find out that the third time was the charm with this recipe.

This is the kind of dish I crave on a cold or rainy day. It’s a comforting and extremely filling stew. It reminds me of the pot roast that my mom used to make in a crockpot when I was a kid. But I think I prefer this stew to a pot roast just because the beef is already cut up into bite-sized pieces. I’m lazy and I don’t want to deal with slicing stuff, I just want to eat!

Speaking of lazyness, this is very simple recipe that mostly involves throwing stuff in a pot and letting it cook for a long time. But I want to warn you now that it takes about 3 hours to cook. I’m saying that because some people (who are definitely not me) might not read all the way through the directions and they might start making this at 8pm and then get a quarter of the way through the recipe and realize they won’t be able to eat dinner until midnight. And that’s kind of annoying when you realize that (not that I would know personally…) so I’m just warning everyone ahead of time. 😉

This stew is definitely worth the wait, though. And the good news is that this makes a lot, so you can cook this up the night before or on the weekend and heat it up on the stove or in the microwave whenever you want to eat it, it makes great leftovers for lunch or dinner.

*Note: You can use a can of green beans or peas (drained), but add them in at the same time as you add the potatoes instead of with the carrots.

Process

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F).

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a large (at least 5 qt.) Dutch oven (or oven-safe pot with a lid) over medium/medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute or until garlic just begins to brown. Using a large slotted spoon, transfer garlic to a large bowl.

Add another tsp. of oil to the pot. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes or until tender. Put onion in the large bowl with the garlic.

Add another tsp. of oil and put in half of the beef; sauté 5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Add beef and any accumulated juices to onion mixture.

Add another tsp. of oil and sauté the remaining beef until browned on all sides. Add it to onion mixture.

Pour wine into the pot and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add the beef/onion mixture back in to the pot.

What a great recipe for the cold months ahead. I love that you’re not shy about using a decent amount of garlic in the recipe as it is both delicious and healthy. I bet this will also be easy too make in the crockpot.Daisy´s last post ..Top 15 Christmas Toys 2010

Thanks, Clarousel! It should be fine to to cook on the stove top instead of in the oven. The point is just to slow-cook the stew, so as long as you cook it on a low simmer (medium-low/medium) with a lid on it, that should work pretty much the same. Just keep cooking it until the potatoes and beef are tender.

Shawanna Rotherham said:

I did so think of making it inside a crockpot once before, however never attempted. I think I will now instead of starting up the big stock container at 10: 30 and constantly getting up in the center of the night worried in order to death something may get it wrong (also continually skimming the particular fatty oils and just about any leftover gunk). Shawanna Rotherham

I was looking for a beef stew recipe and this has got to be the one! Temperatures are forecast of -10C for this weekend, so we’ll definitely be needing something to warm us up!
I love your sweet recipes but this one looks just the thing for the cold weather. Thank you for your blog it’s a wonderful resource